Speaking after its annual review of the Italian economy, the head of the IMF European Department, Reza Moghadam, has shown strong support for the president of Italy Mario Monti. This has put pressure on European leaders to ensure that measures to promote growth in addition to the austerity plans response to the crisis.

"The policies implemented by the government have created a stability that is truly remarkable compared to the situation we had at the end of last year," said Reza Moghadam during a press conference.

The IMF confirmed its estimate of 1.9% decline in gross domestic product (GDP) Italian for 2012, after falling 0.8% in the first quarter.

The fund does not think that Rome should take further fiscal adjustment measures beyond what the country has already planned, although the government has raised its forecast for de government deficit from 2013 to 0.5% of GDP, against 0.1% previously. 

"Fiscal policy for this year and next year is a policy that the IMF fully supports," he said.

"Our recommendation is to proceed with plans to recapitalize banks, precisely to ensure that banks have sufficient capital to support credit activity in Italy," he added.

Considering the situation in Greece "concern" after the results of Sunday's parliamentary elections, Jean-Paul Chifflet, the Director General of the French bank, has however, that the assumption of output in the euro area was not the scenario chosen by the majority group. 

"We are in all cases prepared for all eventualities even if we think that it should not happen," said Jean-Paul Chifflet at a conference call about the future of Greece.

"We do not envisage this scenario so as the majority of risk occurrence," he added.

At the Paris Bourse, the action Credit Agricole SA, which had opened on a drop of over 3%, 2.26% gave up to 10:10, to 3.417 euros in a market still nervous because of the political stalemate in Greece and the revelation of a trading loss by the U.S. bank JPMorgan. 

Since the beginning of the year, the title, which hit Wednesday during its lowest (3.344 euros) since its IPO in late 2001, falling more than 21%, significantly underperforming the European banking index down only 0.35% since January 1.

"Given the current Greek, the group's exposure to Emporiki remains a major factor of concern," said Alex Koagne, an analyst at Natixis.

"However the performance of core business lines is strong in the quarter. Moreover, the deleveraging plan ahead properly, which is good news, "he says

. NEW CHARGES ON GREECE … The listed vehicle

….. group Credit Agricole says first quarter spending in a new charge of 940 million euros for Greece, which EUR 567 million related to its Greek subsidiary Emporiki mainly because of new provisions

. Its net profit reached 252 million of the coup euros for the first three months of the year. According to the Thomson Reuters consensus I / B / E / S, analysts on average expected a net profit of 571 million euros.

Its revenues for the period rose 2.3% while its provision for credit risk have increased more than two.

The bank, which was accused last year its first annual loss since its IPO in late 2001, warned in mid-March that its first quarter accounts would incorporate new provisions on the Gre and it related to the perimeter of the second aid plan for the Hellenic Republic. 

Hired as other European banks in a restructuring of its operations in the BFI and reduce balance sheet size, the group also states that it reached in late April, 70% of its target to reduce its liquidity needs and 91% of its objective of reducing its risk-weighted assets.

ALL OPTIONS OPEN ON CHEUVREUX

This restructuring of the CIB, which involves the removal of 1,750 positions, also resulted in the first quarter charge of 224 million euros.

Asked about the future of its subsidiary brokerage Cheuvreux, Jean-Paul Chifflet also said that all assumptions were now open. 

Cheuvreux was excluded from the scope of end-March discussions with the Chinese broker who negotiates the purchase Citics CLSA, the brokerage subsidiary of another bank green.

For the whole group Credit Agricole, the net profit was 804 million euros in the first quarter, down 47%.

For comparison, the group BPCE (People's Bank – Savings Bank), parent company of Natixis, has made a net profit of 665 million euros.

BNP Paribas and Societe Generale have in turn reported net income of respectively 2.867 million and 732 million euros.

The Dow Jones Industrial 30 yielded 0.08%, or 10.75 points, to 13,268.57. The S & P-500, wider, lost 3.51 points, or 0.25%, to 1402.31. The Nasdaq Composite, however, advanced on his side of 9.41 points (0.31%) to 3,059.85.

The day before, the Dow had reached in a meeting again four years earlier. And the S & P 500 is up about 11% since the beginning of the year.

Job creation in the private sector last month in the U.S. proved well below expectations, according to the results of the monthly ADP. It was created 119,000 jobs in April as the market expected 177,000 additional jobs.

"If fewer people are involved in the ongoing recovery, it is a sign of underlying weakness which must be addressed. So far, the response of autoritésa been a credit facilitation, maybe he should look no further, "said Jack Ablin, Investment Officer at Harris Private Bank

. This indicator was published in the wake of European statistics bleak ..

……. industrial activity in the euro area contracted again in April while the slowdown in the peripheral countries appears to spread to France and Germany, according to final data from the survey with Markit purchasing managers

….. …. The unemployment rate in the euro zone was 10.9% in March, its highest level in 15 years, mainly because of increases in Italy and Spain. 

In addition to this weak economic table laughing, industrial orders recorded in March in the U.S. its largest decline in three years mainly because of lower demand for e Facilities in the transport sector.

"What the market needs is a sign that the economy does not deteriorate. Although growth is low but it is still there, "said Ralph Edwards (ITG)

The Nasdaq Composite was particularly supported by the good performance of the title Intel, which rose 0.79% to 29.18 dollars, many investors whereas the action of the world's leading semiconductor remains undervalued e

. sector home builders surged 2.60%, brokers citing the growing political support for measures sug rant to cancel the principal of mortgages

. The recovery in the housing market is considered essential to the sustainability of growth United States

.

AstraZeneca offers Ardea $ 32 per share, representing a premium of 54% over the closing price Friday of society, and values ​​acquired at a billion dollars after deduction of cash held by Ardea.

Both groups said they expect the transaction to close in the second or third quarter, adding that shareholders representing approximately 30% of Ardea had agreed to vote for the operation. 

The action Astrazeneca yielded 0.87% at the London Stock Exchange at 7:35 GMT, but doing better than the market (-1.16%).

The group is facing generic competition on several of its key drugs, including anti-psychotic Seroquel, and just to renew its range. Earlier this month, he concluded an agreement on joint development and commercialization of five treatments of the portfolio of the U.S. biotech Amgen.

The biotechnology sector is currently characterized by a wave of mergers and acquisitions and consolidation attempts.

GlaxoSmithKline announced last week it had offered to buy Human Genome Sciences for approximately $ 2.6 billion (2 billion), an offer rejected by American society. Roche has attempted unsuccessfully to acquire Illumina to $ 6.8 billion.

The social network plans to complete the transaction in the current quarter.

Instagram was launched in January 2011 and now has thirty million users. The application allows in particular to apply filters and effects to photos taken with a smartphone.

This acquisition is unexpected since Facebook is preparing an IPO.

"This is an important step for Facebook because it's the first time we acquire a company and a product as accrued," said the Director General General of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg.

Attention statistical trapped. While the real situation of employment is being debated in the U.S., including the Fed, the Labor Department announced Friday that the unemployment rate fell 0.1 points to 8.2% in March. But this apparent good news is accompanied by a slowdown in job creation to 120,000 against 240,000 the previous month Analysts had expected at least 200,000 more jobs created last month.

Hiring was strongest in the first two months of the year, especially in January (275,000). But economists were concerned that these figures have been inflated by an unusually mild weather, making an increase in activity that would be offset by a slowdown in March.

Unemployment can evolve differently in job creation: it is determined by household surveys as they are derived from company surveys, it is sensitive to changes in the labor force (which increased less in March in January or February), and is calculated to a tenth of a percentage point, from which threshold effects.

Since summer, the trend unemployment rate is significantly to the decline, which had reached 9.1% in August yet. This trend is also clear for another measure of the labor market, unemployment and underemployment (including among other employees working part time against their will, or people who have abandoned the active search for work) , which fell to 14.5% in March against 14.9% in February. This is the lowest rate since January 2009. The number of unemployed also declined: 12.67 million in March, against 12.81 million in February.

By business segment, the slowdown in job creation is significant in the private sector (121,000 in March after 233,000 in February). In the public employment was flat in March while on a decline the previous month. Hiring in the manufacturing sector were virtually unchanged (31 000), while those in the service sector fell (90,000 against 204,000 in February).

The government increased job losses in temporary employment (7500), generally considered a leading indicator of economic activity. But he welcomed the increase of 3.6 million since February 2010 the number of jobs in the U.S. economy.

In early trade, the Dow Jones lost 0.12% to 13,248.75 and the S & P 500 1417.40 0.12% also. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.14% to 3,124 points.

Wall Street began the second quarter with a bang on Monday, with an S & P 500 ending at its highest since mid-May 2008 and the Dow at its highest since Dec. 31 in 2007. The Nasdaq Composite Index finished the other hand once again to a level that had not seen since late 2000.

"The upside potential of the S & P remains intact but seriously begins to exceed its 75 days moving average," said Robert Sluymer, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets.

There is also a rotation of investor interest, moving toward the leading sectors in the first quarter to those who were lagging behind, especially the cyclic.

Values, Molson Coors Brewing loses 1.5% Tuesday after announcing the acquisition of brewer StarBev with the investment fund CVC Capital Partners for 2.65 billion euros to strengthen its presence Markets in Central and Eastern Europe.

Groupon loses nearly 1%. The specialist group purchases the subject of an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding the review of its accounts for the fourth quarter, reports the Wall Street Journal citing a source close to the case without identifying it.

The country had 18,000 job seekers less than in February in seasonally adjusted data (CVS), to 2,841,000, while economists polled by Reuters had pre saw a decline of only 10,000.

In raw data, the number of unemployed fell by 82,000 to 3,028,000 and the rate of unemployment has fallen from 7.4% to 7.2%.

The fight continues. Metalworkers block since 6:30 this Tuesday access to administrative buildings of the plant ArcelorMittal Florange (Moselle). Thirty workers wearing jumpers of the CFDT, CGT and FO have taken a position before the checkpoint leading to the "big offices" staffed usually several hundred frames.

In the pale light of dawn, the steelworkers have improvised at the gates with a pile of straw bales and wooden pallets. Some managers and administrators have been forced to turn back by the workers protest, fearing an imminent closure of the steelworks. Most of the inside workers hired to 8:00.

"This is once again disrupt production at the site" which is partly controlled from the "big office," said a trade unionist. The blocking is expected to continue throughout the day, he said. This is the second blocking access to the administrative buildings of the factory in less than two weeks.

February 28, fifty steelworkers were blocked for a dozen hours access to "big offices". This blockage was "unacceptable" by the management group's Atlantic-Lorraine. "ArcelorMittal strongly condemns the blocking (…) by a small group of trade unionists (who) and prohibit access to their workplace to the other employees of the company," had found direction in a statement.

Monday, the workers decided to continue meeting in their movement. The Inter announced it would conduct new blockages Tuesday, she would visit all workshops and site Wednesday that it "would rise" in Paris Thursday. A "great national day" demonstration will also be held March 22 in Florange by the CGT on the theme "The industry and the steel industry in France," said the union plans to bring in Lorraine "thousands of French and Belgian steelworkers. "

March 8, direction, accompanied by thirty guards, had taken possession of "large office", February 20 invested by metallurgists to cries of "Mittal, we want to work". Movement by engaging in late February, a CFDT Inter-CGT-FO (GSC / CFE has withdrawn since) had promised to make Florange "the nightmare of government" if the two blast furnaces of the steelworks, dormant for several months, were not given a prompt start. ArcelorMittal ensures it is only a standby temporary, made necessary by an insufficient global demand for steel.

The partners of Greece in the euro area, which meet Monday, should agree on a solution to prevent the country from going bankrupt in a month, even if the terms of the proposed aid is not yet clearly defined. Several European leaders have shown their confidence in recent days in the ability to unlock the situation Monday during a meeting of finance ministers of Monetary Union in Brussels.

Following a telephone conversation Friday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Prime Mario Monti and Prime Minister of Greece Lucas Papademos have expressed "confident that an agreement on Greece can be reached Monday the Eurogroup ". "We're getting closer to have a solid basis for a decision Monday," said the spokesman for the German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, although it had multiplied the signs of mistrust vis-à-vis of Athens recently. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has also "expressed confidence that an agreement on a new Greek program is concluded in the next few days, paving the way for a substantial reduction of the Greek debt".

Aid on the table has two interrelated components: a deletion with the private creditors of Athens 100 billion euros of Greek debt, and a new bailout of 130 billion euros from its creditors. The whole question now is what the scope of the agreement that should come out of Monday's meeting. The green light to partial erasure of private debt, already largely complete, seems on track, and can not wait any more: it is not put back on track in the next few days, it will not be concluded before the deadline of March 20, date-cleaver which Greece will have to repay 14.5 billion euros of debt, otherwise it will default on payment.

The IMF could lend 13 billion

This is the part of public support that the uncertainties are the most numerous. Good news came from Washington Sunday: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the United States would support the idea of ​​a new International Monetary Fund loan in Athens. "This is a very strong and very difficult to reform, deserving the support of the international community and the IMF. The United States encourage the IMF to support this agreement," he wrote. The IMF would consider contributing a loan of 13 billion euros in new bailout, the Wall Street Journal. According to the website of JDD, the Fund proposes that the public debt of Greece in 2020 significantly exceed the level he wants to see it go down, reaching 129% of GDP when he wants it to be 120% up to that date.

On European aid to the President of the Eurogroup Jean-Claude Juncker, it would be "wise, judicious and advisable that finds consensus on the contours" of the program Monday. Some within the euro area are in favor of splitting the envelope, by not releasing a small portion of the aid at first, and await the outcome of Greek elections and the commitments of the new government before continuing payments or not. Paris prefers that the agreement covers all of the help, knowing that the different tranches will be disbursed in any case in light of reforms made by Athens. For the euro area has increased the requirements in exchange for his support, so that Greece can be found virtually under the tutelage of its partners.

The debt of Greece will not be reduced to 120% in 2020

Thus, a whole list of reforms contained in the "Memorandum" agreed with its creditors should be launched prior to the payment of a first tranche of aid, so they must be passed by late February or early March. And the euro area is also finalizing the creation, claimed by France and Germany, an escrow account which will be paid a portion of the funds loaned to Greece so that they are primarily used to repay public debt. This measure, which seems to have been accepted by Athens, has a number of technical difficulties and we must decide how such monitoring mechanism.

This is what's the job of senior officials of the Treasury 17, meeting in Brussels on Sunday. The other remaining issue to be arbitrated on the actual amount of public support: according to one diplomatic source, needs up to 5.5 billion more have already been identified, because the situation in Greece has deteriorated since October, when the sum of EUR 130 billion was set. And it will probably go even further, because at this stage, the measures are far from capable of reducing the public debt ratio of Greece to 120% of GDP in 2020, as originally planned.  

The European Central Bank began exchanging Greek bonds purchased below face value on the secondary market. It intends to redistribute the gains realized states of the euro area, so that they can share it with Greece, again in ways that have not yet been fixed. The idea of ​​reducing interest rates on loans already in Athens is also on the table but would yield relatively small, according to a European source. Whatever the outcome of the meeting, it will not be the end of the Greek drama as much now depends on political will from Athens to implement its part of the contract.